Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal: The Phantom Number Hunter
by Master of the Phantom Knights
Summary: Numbers, I hate them so much. They are an abomination to dueling. But, I need them. To destroy them. And, to save my world. Kaizen Nakagawa (Part of the Protector Of Dimensions Series)
1. Prologue

Hello everyone and welcome to my first ever fan fic story on this site. I've tried writing before years ago but I never thought they were good enough. But then I found this site so I decided why not to give it another go in this story **Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal: The Phantom Number Hunter**.

As I said it's been awhile so sorry if there might be some problems like some characters being OOC or grammar mistakes so please if you guys have any advice feel free to review with some ways I can improve this story.

Anyway now that long explanation is over and done with onto the story.

 **Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal: The Phantom Number Hunter**

 _Numbers, I hate them so much._

 _They are an abomination to dueling._

 _But, I need them._

 _To destroy them._

 _And, to save my world. ~_ Kaizen Nakagawa

 **Prologue: introducing Kaizen Nakagawa**

Sometime in the future

In an unknown location in a dark narrow hallway, footsteps could be heard echoing, as a shadowed figure could be seen walking towards the exit of the hallway.

As the figure kept walking towards the end of the hallway, light was started illuminate the figure, which revealed, a white skinned, almost pale boy, who looked like he was 14 or 15 years of age. Midnight black hair was seen with long bangs that perfectly cover his left eye, his viable right eye was a bright green, like an emerald sparkling in the darkness.

Walking closer to the light, the boy can now be seen, his long sleeveless dark purple (which is so dark you could mistake it for black) duster coat, trailing behind him as he walked, his bare arms had black/purple straps on both of his triceps and long black wrist band on his right wrist and a slim purple and silver gauntlet of some kind, with a dueling deck on the top of his wrist, on his left arm. His black jeans could be seen along with his black lace up boots.

Stepping out of the hallway and into the light, a man, in his early 20's, with his Duel Disk deactivated, can be staring in my direction with a startled expression. Behind the man, I can see a person, on the ground, who has a Duel Disk on his arm.

The boy frowning at the sight thinks to himself ' _he must have lost the duel then.'_

But then he starts to smirk, turning he attention to the victor ' _then it must be him, he's the number holder'_

The man in question regains his composure, grinning at me with a dark smile on his face, as he responds to the boy's arrival "so who the hell, are you supposed to be."

The boy just stares calmly at the man before responding with "my name is of no importance, but if you want a name."

The man, with no time to react, watched as the stranger sprang into action, throwing his right arm out towards him, when suddenly a blue rope of some kind of energy, shot out of a hidden compartment in his wrist band, wrapping the energy rope tightly around the man's wrist. The man panicking with a scared expression clearly visible on his face, tried to pry of the rope off his wrist but to no avail.

They mysterious boy smirking at the sight, spoke "You can call me, Phantom!" the now named Phantom shouts.

The man still startled by the rope shouts "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!" with a panicked and scared face shouts.

Phantom still smirking, just looks calmly at him "This is a Duel Anchor. Now ... we can't separate until we have a duel."

The man instantly calms down, when he heard the word 'duel' "A duel, huh, heheHAHAHAHA" he starts laughing a cold and evil laugh "A DUEL, THAT'S IT, WELL KID YOUR ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED, BY THE POWER OF MY NUMBER CARD!" the confirmed number holder shouts

Phantom starts grinning with a cheshire grin "YES, SHOW MY THE POWER OF YOUR NUMBER!" he shouts with excitement.

Phantom swings his left arm in front of him " **DUEL DISK, SET** " the side of the gauntlet opens and a piece of silver, purple and green metal pops out, which looks like a monster card zone slot with a spell and trap zone at the end, then suddenly four more pop out of both sides in an backwards arcing motion. He then puts his right hand in front of where his left eye would be, then in one motion moves his hair away from his eye, revealing a vertical scar on his eyelids that goes up to his eyebrow from his cheek, and a different colour eye, a pale blue colour, " **DUEL EYE, SET, DUELING MODE ACIVAITE** " the once pale blue eye changed to a bright luminescent blue.

The Number Holder prepares his standard D-pad " **DUEL DISK, SET** " he then pulls out a standard D-Gazer " **D-GAZER, SET** " the AR materializes with a bunch of random numbers.

" **AR Vision – Link established.** " A computerised voice tells them.

Both duellist's take their five cards.

" **DUEL!** " Phantom and the number holder shout out.

 **Phantom:** **4000 LP**

 **Number Holder:** **4000 LP**

"I'll take the first move." Phantom states, he grabs the top card of his deck "I draw" he makes the first draw. Phantom looks at his hand for a second before smirking. "I set, four cards face-down, then end my turn." Four holographic cards appear in front of him.

"What, that's it, haha, this will be over in couple turns" the Number Holder boasts confidently "My turn, draw" he draws. He starts laughing when he looks at his hand "HAHAHAHA, well kid looks like it's the end of the road for you." "First, I will set two cards face-down." Two face-down cards appear before him "then, I activate 'Heavy Storm' this will destroy all spell and trap cards on the field, so say good bye to your face-downs" a massive gust of wind blew across the field destroying all face-downs in into pieces.

Phantom doesn't look fazed by that move, in fact he looks rather bored by it. "Is that it, I expected more." Phantom taunts the Number Holder.

The Number Holder looked pissed off at that remark "That's it you punk, I'm going to destroy you, insolent punk!" as he says this dark clouds start to appear in front of the Number Holder, he smirks at this "Your probably wondering what's happening aren't you." "well I'll tell you, you see the two face-down cards I set that were destroyed, were the Trap cards 'Statue Of The Wicked', you see when this Trap card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, I can summon a 'Wicked Token' to my side of the field, and I just destroyed two, so appear my 'Wicked Tokens'"

Wicked Token #1(Fiend-Type/DARK/Level 4 /ATK 1000/DEF 1000)

Wicked Token #2(Fiend-Type/DARK/Level 4 /ATK 1000/DEF 1000)

"It's the end of the line for you kid, because I sacrifice my two Tokens!" he says with a savage grin. The two Tokens disappear in a golden light "To summon 'Ancient Gear Golem'!" they could hear the gears turning as the great machine monster appears.

Ancient Gear Golem (Machine-Type/Earth/Level 8 /ATK 3000/DEF 3000)

The Number Holder was still smiling but lost it, when he looked over at Phantom still looking bored. "Take me, seriously you brat!" he shouted at him

Phantom looks at him with bored eyes "then give me a reason to be" he says in a disinterested tone.

The Number Holder look at him incredulously "what, a reason, I have a monster with 3000 ATK and your field is bare, how couldn't you take me seriously?!" he asks him.

Phantom looks at him dead in the eyes "how about you bring out your Number, then I'll take this seriously?" he asks in a calm tone of voice, like he doesn't have a care I the world.

An angry vain appears on the number holders head "ALRIGHT FINE THEN, I WILL.!" "Now, I activate the spell card ' **Rusting Gears** ', you see when I have an Ancient Gear monster on the field; I can equip this card to that monster; then I can reduce its Attack and Defence points to 0"

Ancient Gear Golem (Machine-Type/Earth/Level 8 /ATK 3000-0/DEF 3000-0)

"Next I use the spell card 'Machine Duplication', this spell card targets one of my machine monsters which has 500 or less Attack points; then I can Special Summon up to 2 monsters from my Deck with the same name as the selected monster, lucky you I only have one. Appear once more 'Ancient Gear Golem'"

The same great mechanized behemoth appears on the field.

Ancient Gear Golem #2 (Machine-Type/Earth/Level 8 /ATK 3000/DEF 3000)

' _He now has 2 level 8 monsters, is it coming'_ Phantom thinks to himself with a small grin in anticipation.

"I Now Overlay My 2 Level 8 'Ancient Gear Golems', to build the Overlay Network!" the number holder shouts as his two Golems turn into two orange lights and enter a black galaxy portal. "XYZ Summon, come forth, Rank 8, Number 23; Lancelot, Dark Knight of the Underworld" The black portal explodes with power and out comes the skeletal knight, with two purple orbs spinning around its body.

Number 23; Lancelot, Dark Knight of the Underworld (Zombie-Type/Dark/Rank 8/ATK 2000/DEF 1500) OU 2

"Now, Lancelot attack this punk directly" the knight obeys his command a lunges at his opponent with his sword.

Phantom simply smirks at "I activate my trap cards from my graveyard."

The number holder is shocked by this "f-from the graveyard"

"Yes, I had intentionally let my face downs get destroyed for this reason, you see 3 of the face-downs that were destroyed were 'The Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil' and its ability is; When an opponent's monster declares a direct attack while this card is in my Graveyard I can Special Summon this card in Defence mode as a Normal Monster." Phantom explains with a grin on his face.

As the 3 trap monsters start to appear, the Number Holder interrupts "Well sorry to burst your bubble kid, but I activate the special ability of Number 23; by using an Overlay Unit I can negate the activation of 1 of your traps." The skeleton knight absorbs 1 of the purple orbs and negates the summoning of 1 of the trap monsters.

Number 23; Lancelot, Dark Knight of the Underworld (Zombie-Type/Dark/Rank 8/ATK 2000/DEF 1500) OU 1

Phantom doesn't look phased by this development "it doesn't even matter, show yourselves, my 2 'Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil'"

Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil #1 (Warrior-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 0/DEF 300).

Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil #2 (Warrior-Type/DARK/Level 4/ATK 0/DEF 300).

Phantom smirks as two of his monster are on the field, but drops it when he sees his opponents smiling so wide you'd think it would fall of his face. "I activate the other special ability of Number 23; when Lancelot has an Overlay unit it can Attack my opponent directly." Phantoms eyes widen at this development and braces himself for the impact. When it hits he gets sent flying and lands on the ground hard.

 **Phantom:** **4000-2000 LP**

Phantom could hear his opponent laughing as he was sent flying, as he was slowly getting up he started to … laugh? His opponent stopped laughing to hear his laugh, confused he waited for his opponent to get up. As of now he was fully standing up with his eyes over shadowed with an excited grin on his face. "HahahaHAHAHAHA" his eyes now visible they contained unhidden excitement and his mouth turn up in a psychotic smile. "Yes, this is great, a number that's actually damaged my life points, yes, I'll take great pleasure in destroying you!"

The Number holder took a step back in shock at the threat a 'kid' had given him and how confident he sounded when saying that.

Phantom, still with that slightly psychotic grin, grabs the top card of his deck "My turn, I draw!" he shouted, forcefully drawing his card, creating a force of wind strong enough to were his opponent was forced to shield himself from it. Looking at the card, quickly coming up with a strategy to win "First, I Overlay my 2 level 4 'Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil' to construct the Overlay Network!" the 2 trap monsters turn into 2 purple lights that enter a yellow galaxy portal which explodes with power "Formed from the pitch-black darkness, to fight those foolish enough to oppose its treacherous fangs!" and from the portal a black and purple dragon appears "Come, My Faithful Dragon Of Darkness!, XYZ Summon, Rank 4, 'Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon'!"

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon (Dragon-Type/Dark/Rank 4/ATK 2500/DEF 2000) OU 2

As the black dragon roars to life, the Number holder seems terrified "w-w-what is that monster" he asks fearfully, his opponent can only merely chuckle at the terrified man

"Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, has a special ability by using an overlay unit; I can target 1 level 5 or higher monster my opponent controls; its Attack points becomes half its current Attack, and if it does, this card gains that lost Attack." Phantom's opponent breathes out a sigh of relief thinking he's safe, oh how wrong he was "I now activate the spell card 'Xyz Encore'; this card lets me target a face-up Xyz monster you control; then you have to detach all Overlay Units for the targeted monster; then the Xyz monster is returned to your Extra Deck!" I exclaimed loudly, his monster starts to glow brightly then it vanishes back into his extra deck. "OH NO" the Number Holder exclaims in shock, "and now the final effect of 'Xyz Encore'; when the Xyz monster is sent back to the extra deck, the remaining Overlay Units on the monster are Special summoned back to the field." In a shining light, Ancient Gear Golem return to the field.

Ancient Gear Golem (Machine-Type/Earth/Level 8 /ATK 3000/DEF 3000)

The Number Holder realizing how bad the situation starts to panic "oh no, it's a level 8 monster that means, 'Dark Rebellion'….!"

Phantom smirks "I now use the ability of 'Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon'; by using an overlay unit; I can target 1 level 5 or higher monster my opponent controls then halve its attack points and 'Dark Rebellion' gains the lost attack points." The dark dragon eats an overlay unit and its wind start to expand revealing purple electricity "Go, 'Dark Rebellion', Treason Discharge!" Phantom commands the electricity shot towards 'Ancient Gear Golem' trapping him in a circle of electricity.

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon (Dragon-Type/Dark/Rank 4/ATK 2500-4000/DEF 2000) OU 1

Ancient Gear Golem (Machine-Type/Earth/Level 8 /ATK 3000-1500/DEF 3000)

The number holder gasps in shock "4-4000 Attack points!" Phantom smirks even wider at the man's fear "Again, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, Treason Discharge!" The dragon eats the final Overlay Unit and shoots out more electricity, binding the Golem even tighter.

Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon (Dragon-Type/Dark/Rank 4/ATK 4000-4750/DEF 2000) OU 0

Ancient Gear Golem (Machine-Type/Earth/Level 8 /ATK 1500-750/DEF 3000)

If the man wasn't scared before he was pissing himself in terror t _-t-t duel this efficiently, with such strength, such power_ the man thinks to himself in despair. "w-who are you?" he couldn't help but ask.

Phantom still smirking knowing his victory was at hand "I am the Phantom Number Hunter, and your number is mine!" shouting the last part "Dark Rebellion, end this Duel" electricity started to spread all over the Dragon's body to its two blade fangs, it started to charge flying at the Golem head first "Go, Revolt of Lightning, Disobey!" the dragon hit its mark and the Golem exploded, resulting in an explosion that knocked the number holder unconscious before he even hit the ground.

 **Number Holder:** **4000-0 LP Loser**

 **Phantom:** **2000 LP Winner**

The AR finally dispersed, breathing out a sigh Phantom deactivated his Duel Disk retracting it back into the gauntlet and deactivating the 'Dueling mode' of his eye and it returned to its original pale blue colour. With those deactivated he approached the unconscious man. Standing above the fallen man he extended his right arm with his hand stretched outwards, he muttered " **DUEL EYE, NUMBER CAPTURE** " the man still unconscious started to move around in pain, he started moaning in pain and the moaning turned into screaming. After a minuet a glowing card floated out of the man's chest and into Phantoms hand, the card finally in his hand the glowing stop and revealed 'Number 23; Lancelot, Dark Knight of the Underworld' smirking satisfied with the work done he turned and started walking back down the hallway he came from.

"BEEB, BEEB, BEEP" My Duel Eye informed him of an incoming call from a 'Dr Nakagawa' rolling his eyes he answered and a brown haired woman in her early 40's appeared in what appears to be a white lab coat "Hello Doctor" he greeted her formally. On the other end he herd her sigh exasperated "you know you don't have to call me that, I swear your spending too much time with your father" she tells him softly. He sighs this time almost tiredly "Sorry Mother, I was just finishing my hunt for today" she perks up slightly hearing this, "how many did you get today?" she asks with a slightly exited expression. "Four today mother, have Big Brother and Sister back from their hunt yet?" he asks his Mother with a smile on his face. "Yes there back, you should come back to, Rika has been dying to see you all day" she says with a chuckle at the end. His expression brightened when he heard the name 'Rika'. "Ok I am coming back right now" he says with a bright smile. His mother mirrors his expression "Ok, be back soon Kaizen" with that he ends the call.

He made it out the building to notice that it was dark out. In the distance he can see a city with bright lights and a tower with a big hart on top of it, he stops in his walking to just look at the city frowning he lets his thoughts flow through his head.

 _In a couple of months the World Duel Carnival will start, the perfect place for numbers to hide._ When he thinks of number thoughts go to three people who are a challenge to me _Kite, Yuma and Astral._ He thinks of the last name with absolute distaste.

He starts walking again.

 _My Name is Kaizen Nakagawa, and your numbers are mine._

 **Prologue end**

 **Next chapter: Numbers!?**

 **Fan-made cards used in this chapter:**

 **Rusting Gears**


	2. Chapter 1: Numbers? Part 1

So it's finally here Chapter 1 of **Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal: The Phantom Number Hunter**.

Sorry about the wait college has been a bitch, with a bunch of work to do.

First I would like to say that I **will** finish this story no matter how long it takes it will be completed. I say this because updates will be random, I have been trying to make a schedule for updating, but as I said college has been rough.

Anyway I would like to answer the first review of this story.

 **Sapphire100** **:** Sounds like to me you are off to a great start. Love the new character so far. Just don't forget to add a back story in how he knows the main characters. Best Regards! :)

First thank you for the kind words, they really made my day, second don't worry I will just be patient and all will be revealed.

And for others out there reading this, please review and let me know how I'm doing or if you think there are ways to improve this story.

Now let's finally jump into the first chapter of **Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal: The Phantom Number Hunter**.

 **Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal: The Phantom Number Hunter**

 _Darkness that's all I can see._

 _An empty void of no life or light._

 _Just nothingness._

 **Chapter 1: Numbers!? Part 1**

 _I can see the darkness clearing, revealing large objects that I can closely resemble to buildings. The darkness fully lifted I can see the towers on fire, people screaming in the distance._

 _Turning around I see the tallest building, a tower with two big familiar letters Oc._

 _I hear a scream behind me, turning around I can see a little girl running towards me. The problem is I can't see her face, but I could tell by her scream that she was really scared, but she seemed really_

 _She spots me as I look at her, trying "BIG BROTHER!" she screams in a mix of terror and relief. That's when it hits me "RIKA"I shout out at her. How could I have forgotten my little sister! I mentally hit myself over and over again._

 _She starts smiling a smile that instantly puts one on my face, but my smile disappears completely to a face of pure horror, when I see a giant shadow towers over her and I see a humanoid figure as big as the buildings, preparing to slash at her with what I assume is a sword._

 _From my point of view, it happened in slow motion._

 _Rika's face showed confusion when my expression changed, not realising the giant behemoth slashing down at her. I tried to run towards her, but it was for nothing, as the sword finally crashed down and sent Rika flying in my direction._

 _As soon as she hit the ground I am besides her in an instant. Her face and body covered with cuts and bruises, small amounts of blood seeping out of her. I can only look at her in shock and despair, she tries to reach out at me, with her hand, and I take it instantly in my own. Tears escape her as she tries to speak "k-k-k-kai" she can only mutter out, my nickname that most of my family called me by, as she disappears in a flash of light, in my arms._

 _As she disappears, tears escape my eyes as I can only cry for the death of my sister "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" I let out a scream of complete anguish. I screamed until I couldn't scream anymore._

 _Numbness was all I could feel, it was like a large chunk of my existence just disappeared._

 _I could hear and feel large footsteps as I was still where Rika 'disappeared'. Numbly moving my head, with no emotions visible on my face, to look where the footsteps were coming from. And I see the monster that 'killed' my sister with it sword raised to end my life._

 _I couldn't move, why would I? A part of my world is gone, so what's the point._

 _The monsters sword swings it's sword down._

 _The only thing I could see, in my last moment, was…._

… _..the number 39_

Zexal

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH" I screamed, as I sat up in my bed, shirtless, waking up from the hellish dream. I was trying to get my breathing under control, as they were coming out with large puffs of air. As I was getting myself under control, a woman in her late 20's wearing a maid's outfit, entered the room, from the door at the far end of the room. "Is everything alright Master Kaizen" she asks in a formal and worried tone of voice. "GET OUT, THIS INSTANT" I shout at her in pure rage, still effected from the dream. The woman, realising I was mad, no furious, she quickly runs out of the room. Now that I was free of disturbances, I could finally calm down.

Finally calm, I gaze around my room. The room was a large, beige coloured room, picture frames adorned the left wall, but were too far away to see what is on them, and the left wall had a case full of trophies and awards, and next to the case was a wardrobe full of a verity of clothes and next to it was a small desk, which had a digital clock and some closed books.

If you haven't figured it out, my family if pretty rich, actually that's an understatement, the Nakagawa family are in the top 10 of the richest families in the world. In fact, you know the city we live in, Heartland City, my family owns nearly 50% of it and is slowly expanding. The mayor of the city, Mr Heartland, pretty much hates my family, but he keeps up the appearance that he 'loves' us, its total bullshit, he's just afraid of us starting a company war and taking over 'his' city.

Your probably wondering 'how is your family so rich' well I'll tell you, my family is in charge of the world wide Obelisk Corporation of Dueling and Development. My great grandfather invented the D-pad, basically the new duel disks/tablets that everyone, and I mean everyone, uses. But the Obelisk Corporation doesn't just make dueling equipment that was just the first, we run the TV stations, the newspapers, and the phone companies' hell we probably own the candy stores as well, but I guess you get the point.

Finally calmed down, deciding it was just a crazy dream, I move out of my king sized bed, towards the desk to look at the time. It was 6:17 AM. Sighing to myself I decided to get ready for school, so I go to my wardrobe and take out my 'Heartland School' uniform, it was white and green; showing that I was a 2nd year student. Before you ask 'why do you go to the school of the man who hates your family' answer is my Father wanted to show up Mr Heartland at how someone from our family is the best student in the school, not just in terms of dueling but school work as well.

After finally getting my uniform on, and cover my left eye with my hair, (I really hated people staring at the scar; it was annoying) I checked the time again, it read 6:25 AM, sighing again I think to myself ' _I still have an hour before leaving, I suppose I better head down to the lab to see the Doctor'_ referring to my mother, deciding my next move I headed out the door.

Opening the door I spot the maid who walked in previously tidying the hallway outside of my room. Spotting me, the maid approaches me, bowing lowly in front of me "M-m-master K-kaizen please accept my humblest apologies, for intruding into your room unannounced, it was just-"Its fine, Yoko" the maid pauses, and stands up straight, as I interrupt her. "Is the Doctor in the lab" I ask her as I continue walking with her now following me from behind "Y-yes Mistress Nakagawa has been in the lab since 4:00 am" she stutters a bit, still not used to me calling my Mother 'Doctor'. "Thank you Yoko, that's all don't let me interrupt you any further" I say dismissing her "It's no trouble at all Master Kaizen" she says as she watches me walking off, but I pause in my step when I remember something "Yoko, where is Rika" I ask the question that's been bothering me since I woke up "oh, she's still asleep master, why is there something wrong?" she asks "just keep an eye on her today Yoko" I ordered her, in a tone of voice that my Father uses often, meaning that the conversation is over. "y-yes sir" she says almost fearfully, she is when I use that tone of voice. And with that, I walk off.

Zexal

I was currently in the building's elevator that leads to the main lab, it's a bit of a wait, but finally the elevator's doors open and as soon as I walk out, I walk onto a platform overlooking a massive white room filled with some security guards, a lot of scientists, construction robots and other mechanical machinery. The platform, I'm standing on starts to float down to the ground, where everybody is working. As soon as the platform lands I immediately set out to find the Doctor. Everyone I passed bowed in respect, I admit it does get annoying after a while, one of the annoying things that come with being rich.

After a couple of minutes of searching I finally found her in the east corner of the lab, ordering around a bunch of loading bots "NO, no you idiot, that goes there and 'that' goes there!" she shouts in annoyance. NO, NO, NO you idiots 'that' goes there and 'that' goes there, GOD IM SURROUNDED BY A BUNCH OF STUPID FU"- That's when she notices me giving her a blank stare at her behaviour "*cough**cough* h-hi Kaizen, w-what are you doing up this early" she says with a nervous grin, embarrassed by her previous behaviour.

"Nothing particular Doctor I just thought I would"- I stop when I see her taping her foot impatiently, sighing realising what she wanted "Nothing 'Mother', I just thought I'd see what was going on, in the lab, before heading to school." She grins brightly, before grabbing me in a vice grip like hug, cutting of my oxygen supply "SEE, was that so hard." She says in a sing song voice "n-n-not as hard as y-y-you're crushing me" I barely wheezed out, she immediately lets go "s-sorry, you alright?" She asks "y-yeah, yeah I'm fine" I breathed out, finally getting air in my lungs.

"And to answer your previous question, I am proud to announce, the testing phase of Project ARC has finally started!" Mother shouts with glee. My eyes widened at this ' _I thought it was only theory, the idea of a madman or madwoman in this case. But if this works this could change dueling forever'_ I think in amazement "so in a couple of days, I will need you and your Brother to test it" My Mother says. My previous astonishment turn to annoyance "no" I say in a bluntly. My mother anime falls down at the flat out rejection, she recovers quickly though "PLEASE!" she begs on her knees with her hands pressed together as if praying, "No" I again flat out reject her.

Mother goes into a thinking pose ' _what would he want, in exchange for doing this… I got it'_ she snaps her fingers as an idea crosses her mind "what if 'I' made you a new Dark Rebellion card" my eyes widen at this ' _mothers willing to make me a 'new' Dark Rebellion card, must…resist….temptation…..ah hell with it'_ "…fine, I'll do it." "YES" mother shouts in triumph ' _he can never resist the cards I make him_ '

"But, on two conditions." I say to her, as mother quiets down I say "1st: you let me help in making the card" she nods in conformation "2nd: you let me take Rika out for a day, to do 'anything' she wants" as I say this she goes quiet, in fact at the same time I say this, some scientists and guards stop to stare at me like I was insane. Mother's mouth was in a thin line, carefully thinking about this. After what seemed like an eternity as everyone nearby waits for her answer, she finally says it.

"….ok" mother says with a smile on her face. I smile and instantly run up and hug her, I don't care about the guards and scientists, gasping in surprise and shock. "Thank you, mother, thank you so much." I whisper to her, still hugging her. I pull back with a permanent smile on my face "well I better get going now, I'll see you later, mom!" I shout to her, smiling while running off, not seeing her smile turn into a frown.

Zexal

I was currently in a black limousine, with the letters Oc in silver on the sides of the limo. It was nearly time for school so I was being driven there by one of our family chauffeurs, and I was just staring out of the tinted windows with a small smile on my face, still happy from earlier ' _finally after months, I can finally take Rika outside to experience what it's really like to have fun outside of a tower'_ I happily think to myself. Then the smile disappears when I realised, that I was only two blocks away from the school.

With a sigh, I start attaching my folded in Duel Disk (it's in the prologue, for a better description) to my left arm. The reason why I'm putting on my Duel Disk now is because of the insane amount of people who want to challenge an heir to the Nakagawa family and Dueling champion; hence the trophies and awards in my room. Seriously it get quite tiring after a while, but I accept every challenge in the hopes of finding a true challenge, but nothing compares to the challenges of competing in dueling tournaments.

I look outside noticing the limo had finally made it to school, oh boy I can already people staring at the limo in excitement and determination ' _damn they must have saw the corporation logo, oh well might as well get this over with'_ I think to myself In defeat.

I take a deep breath as my chauffeur opens the door, and as soon as I get out of the limo I get bombarded with requests/demands to duel, autographs, photos you name it. _This is going to be a long day_ I think to myself with a fake smile on my face. Hey you got to keep up appearances.

Zexal

After a while of catering to the large crowd, I manage to slip away from the crowd "oh, thank god that's over" a say to myself breathing a sigh of relief "now, how much time do I have until class" I look at the time, via my Dueling Eye, which shines luminescent blue momentarily as I check the time, it read 8:00 AM, ' _damn it, I spent an hour appealing to my 'fans'_ I think with slight annoyance. ' _Oh well, might as well start heading to class_ ' I think to myself in defeat. So that's what I do, I start walking to my first class. As I was walking to my class, with the occasional glance at the people who are staring at me, while I'm walking down the hallway. It was a nice peaceful walk. 'Was' a nice walk, until.

"HEY, Nakagawa!" a voice shouted behind me, making everyone in the hallway to turn their attention to the voice. Sighing I turn around, to see a usual sight to me, at school. A bunch of 3rd year students; judging from their white and blue uniforms. I take the time to observe them, there are around 10 students, no scratch that 15 students blocking the large hallway I came from. I narrow my eyes at the so called 'leader' of the group, he was tall, he had blond hair, and I think I can vaguely remember him.

"Nakagawa! I am hear for a rematch and my 'friends' are hear because they want to help me, stop you from cheating against me again!" he grins along with his 'friends'. All of the people in the hallway gasp at his declaration and murmurs start sparking up whever I cheat or not. I on the other hand, am not amused ' _cheating, cheating, CHEATING!_ ' There's a lengthy pause, before "heheheheheHAHAHAHA" I was laughing a load amused laugh, I was so funny when the 3rd year students expressions turned from confident to confused.

"Yes, I remember you now, you're the guy who I beat in 1 turn, the one, who went home crying for his mommy" people in the started lighting at that comment. The big 3rd grader turn red with anger "SHUT UP! I DID NOT! You cheating scumbag, it not my fault you cheated during our duel." He shouted at me "You confuse skill with cheating, you loser." I responded in a calm yet mocking voice "THAT'S IT, DUEL ME, HEAR AND NOW" he exploded with anger. I just stare at him blankly before giving my answer "no" everyone in the hallway was shock I could tell from the gasps of shock that everyone was shocked. "W-w-why not!" the 3rd year student stammered out "It's simple really, you're not a challenge, so why bother" I turn back around and start to walk to class "HA, yeah right that's a stupid excuse, your just scared of losing against me, or any of my friends" he boasts smugly. That causes me to stop and it gives me an idea that causes me to smirk in excitement.

"Alright I accept your challenge" I say to him with a confident smirk. He starts to grin, and everyone eyed us with excitement for the upcoming duel "but there is a condition in accepting your challenge" his grinning face turned to confusion again "Condition? Well, what is it?" I grin with excitement as I say these next words "this duel will not be a 1 on 1 duel, no, it will be a 15 on 1 duel!" I shout out. "WHAT?" everyone in the hallway shouts in shock and confusion? "That's right, I want to duel you and all your so called 'friends' at once!" I shout with excitement at the new challenge "Y-Y-YOUR CRAZY, THERES NO WAY YOU CAN BEAT AL OF US AT ONCE!" the leader of the group shouted out, and other people in the hallway had similar reactions. "I can and I will." I say with nothing but confidence "F-fine then, don't say I didn't warn you" then every one of the 3rd year students started getting there D-Pads out and everyone in the hallway goy their D-Gazers out to duel/watch.

I extended my left arm, to the left, allowing my Duel Disk to activate " **DUEL DISK, SET** " I then moved my hair, with my right hand, revealing my pale blue left eye " **DUEL EYE, SET,** **DUELING MODE ACIVAITE** " my eye now shining a luminescent blue.

" **AR Vision – Link established.** " A computerised voice tells them, as the AR materializes with a bunch of random numbers.

" **DUEL!** " we all shouted. ' _Let the challenge begin'_ I think to myself, excited at the challenge.

Zexal

After a while, a boy with wild black and red hair, with a white and red uniform; indicating he was a 1st year student, can be seen running through a school hallway "Damn it, Because of those stupid litterbots, I'm going to be late" the boy fumed angrily to himself.

"Huh?" the boy made a noise of confusion, when he notices a large crowd gathered around the hallway he was running in. Curiously he walks up to the crowd. As he's walking he spots his friends, Bronk Stone, and Tori Meadows standing amongst the crowed, with their D-Gazers on.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he puts his own D-gazer on, and what he sees shocks him.

There was 1 student 2nd year student, with his Duel Disk activated, which confused the boy, because he didn't have a D-Pad, it was his own custom built Duel Disk, but that's not all, what confused the boy the most was, that he didn't even have D-Gazer on, but that's when he notices the left eye of the student had a scar, and the eye itself glowing a bright blue colour, while his right was a normal emerald green eye. His Life Points read 4000, on his side of the field, was a Xyz monster called 'The Phantom Knights of Break Sword', a monster that looked like a blue flaming headless knight riding a dark metallic horse, which has 2000 ATK and 1000 DEF, with 2 Overlay Units attached to it, and 2 face-downs. And against him was 1, 3rd year student, his face showed panic, because he was surrounded by a bunch of students, on the ground, moving in pain. His Life Points read 200, on his side of the field, he had 'Jinzo', and that was it.

"Hey Bronk, Tori, what's going on?" the boy asks his friend. "Oh, hey Yuma, we were just watching Nakagawa Duel." Tori greets, the now named boy Yuma. Yuma's face just showed confusion "Nakagawa?" Yuma asks confused. Bronk and Tori gasp at him "Seriously, you don't know who the Nakagawa family are?" Bronk asks increnduiosly. "N-no, should I?" Yuma asks a bit flustered for not knowing something 'apparently' important. "Jeez…you really are an idiot sometimes, you know that Yuma" Bronk and Tori mutter under their breaths. "Come on, Yuma, you must have heard of the Obelisk Corporation." Tori says to Yuma with her hands on her hips. "Hehehe" Yuma just replies with a sheepish laugh. Tori just sighs at him, before getting out her D-Pad and showing Yuma the back of it. Tori points to something on the back, Yuma squints his eyes at where she's pointing at, and he finally finds the small Oc logo on it "The Obelisk Corporation are the people who make our D-Pads and D-Gazers, and own a bunch of other stuff as well, I'm surprised you don't know this Yuma, they're everywhere." Tori explains to Yuma

"Anyway, who is this guy?" Yuma asked his friends, getting back to the topic at hand, as his curiosity spiked "'That guy', your referring to Yuma, is the Best Duellist in the school and Dueling Champion, Kaizen Nakagawa" Bronk answered in respect and praise. "Whoa, a Dueling Champion, in the flesh" Yuma responded in awe. "So, who's he dueling?" Yuma asks, being late to the duel. "Well, he 'was' dueling against 15 students, now it's just 1" Bronk answered "WAIT, wait, are you saying that he was dueling against 15 people at the same time!" Yuma exclaimed in pure astonishment. "Yep, and it looks like it's about to be over as well."

 **Kaizen Nakagawa :** **4000 LP**

 **3** **rd** **Year Student** **:** **200 LP**

"My turn, draw" Kaizen states calmly drawing his card, with a frown on his face looking rather bored. "I activate, the special ability of my 'Break Sword'; by removing an overlay unit, I can destroy a card on your side of the field, but I must also destroy a card on my side as well." Kaizen explains to his opponent and the spectators. "Oh no!" his opponent shouts in disbelief. "I destroy your Jinzo and 1 of my face-downs, go 'Break Sword', Blazing Breaker Slash!" Kaizen's monster lifts its gigantic sword as an Overlay Unit flies into it, dark blue flames start surrounding it, as the sword is fully covered in flames, it slashes it down, and in a burst of flames Jinzo as well as one of my face downs, explode. The force of the explosion is so great his opponent as well as the spectators have to cover themselves with their arms.

"SUCH A POWERFUL BLOW, INCREDIBLE!" Bronk yells over the harsh explosion. After a few seconds the smoke of the explosion clears, with Kaizen's opponent's field bare.

"Your wide open, now 'Break Sword' destroy him!" Kaizen orders his ghostly knight, and it obeys without question, lunging at his opponent destroying the rest of his life points.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH" his opponent screams as he is sent flying back from the force of the attack.

 **Kaizen Nakagawa :** **4000 LP Winner**

 **3** **rd** **Year Student :** **0 LP Loser**

With that the AR disappears, there was a moment of silence, before everyone starts clapping at the awesome duel. "YEAH, that was awesome" Yuma shouts out. The school bell then rung "That, not awesome" Yuma say in a sort of depressed tone.

Everyone started leaving for class, as did Kaizen, but Yuma had…..other ideas. "Hey, Kaizen!" Yuma yells after the Dueling Champ. "YUMA!" Bronk and Tori shout out embarrassed.

Zexal

After defeating, the large group of, pathetic duelists. I heard my name being called **again**. Sighing I turn around, to see a boy with wild black and red hair, running in my direction. The boy now directly in front of me, I can already tell he's overly energetic, especially when I hear his friends call out his name in exasperation. I actually think I've seen him around school, but I can't remember.

"Hi there, my names; Yuma Tsukumo, and I was wondering if it's no trouble, do you wanna duel, during Duel Period." Yuma asks me sheepishly ' _*sigh* of course, another challenge'_ I think to myself irritated _'wait a minute, Yuma, the 'Yuma' who's lost 20 times in a row'_ I think to myself amused. "YUMA, you can't just immediately ask someone to duel after dueling 15 people at once, he's probably tired." A green haired friend of Yuma's comes over and scolds Yuma, as well as his other 'big' friend. ' _Well, I'm not exactly tired, but I can use it as an excuse to avoid dueling for now'_

I put on a fake, tired smile and respond "I'm afraid, I have to decline Yuma, as your girlfriend said I am a bit tired." They both blush when I called his friend, his 'girlfriend' "N-N-NO, NO, NO, I'M NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND, I'M JUST HIS FRIEND!" the girl sputtered out embarrassed. I couldn't help but smile at that. "Don't worry, I was just kidding." I assure them both. "Would it be alright, to ask your names?" I ask, only slightly interested. "Oh sorry, my name is Tori, and this hear is Bronk" the now named Tori, introduces herself and their friend, who looked awestruck at the moment. "Anyway it was nice meeting you guys, maybe we can hang out sometime." I told them, as I turned around and walked to my next class.

Zexal

After a couple of classes, it was dueling period, everybody's favorite time of school. I on the other hand not so much, because of the amount of requests/demands I get, to duel. But luckily, today everybody seems to have backed off for now, _'it's probably because of that big duel earlier, but hey I'm not complaining'_ I actually get a moment of peace and quiet.

That was until I notice a commotion on one of the dueling platforms. Curiosity getting the better of me, I decide to see what was going.

I walk up the steps to see, Yuma and his friends, Tori and Bronk getting harassed by Shark, or otherwise known as Reginald Kastle.

I sigh at seeing Shark acting like this. He had so much potential, still does in my opinion, but ever since his duel in National Duel Circuit, everything just downhill for him. I felt sorry for him sometimes, but when I see him like this…..

"Shark" I spoke in a tone of voice that demanded respect and authority, with a frown on my face. Everyone's attention now on me. Their reactions differed, Shark's once smirking face now formed into a thin line, while his two goons looked scared. Yuma and his friend just showed faces of confusion.

"Kaizen Nakagawa, to what do we owe the pleasure" Shark speaks to me in a sarcastic tone. "I heard a commotion going on up here, and decided to see what was happing. So what's going on" I say with a small glare "Bronk and I here had an arrangement, we dueled and whoever won got the losers deck." Shark explained, glaring at me the whole time. I turn my gaze to Bronk for confirmation, who in returns looks down to the ground in shame "he called me a big chicken" he mutters quietly, but I heard him. "And then, this idiot challenged me to a duel for, his stupid friend's deck". Shark says, pointing to Yuma.

I almost lost my straight face at that _'Yuma is going to duel Shark, HA, I mean he looks like a good kid but, from what I've heard he's a terrible duellist'_ I think with a small anime sweat drop forming on the side of my head.

Shark turns his attention to Yuma "All right, Yuma, say that we 'did' duel. You want Bronk's deck back, but what's in it for me?" he says to Yuma, while holding Bronk's deck out towards him. "Mph... good question...hadn't thought of that..." Yuma says weakly, looking down at his weird looking golden…..key. _THUMP THUMP_ I quickly cover my scared eye when I had a sudden pain behind my eye _'what the hell was that!'_ I think to myself in slight pain. Thankfully nobody noticed this. Shark notices Yuma staring down at the key, and Shark quickly takes it from Yuma. Yuma attempts to rush Shark in hopes of getting his key back, but Shark's goons grab hold of him before he can, "Hey! That's mine, give it back!" Yuma yells at Shark. "Settle down. I mean, if it means so much to you, I'll give it back. And duel ya for it- whoops." Shark says, while 'accidentally' drops the key to the ground.

I know I should stop this before it goes too far, but something inside me is stopping from intervening. "I 'dropped' it; hope nothin' 'bad' happens to it down there. Say, like 'this'!" and just like that Shark stomps on the key, breaking it in halve.

' _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH'_ that's all I can think. The pain in my eye just doubled, no tripled. I was in pure agony, and I was doing an expert job on hiding it but in the process I missed some of Shark and Yuma's conversation. "….This Sunday. At the station courtyard. If you want Bronk's deck back, 'be there'! Shark said to Yuma walking away, but I couldn't care less at the moment. I try activating my duel eye, to call the family emergence number. The holographic interface started to turn on but midway my eye started sparking, like it was overloading. _'SHIT! I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE'_ I started speed walking out of sight without anyone noticing.

Zexal

I got away successfully, stopping in a deserted alleyway where no one would see me. My eye just got worse as the pain skyrocketed again, so bad I think a bit of blood was dripping out of my eyelid. I quickly pull out my emergency cell phone, and dial the family emergence number. It 'BEEPs' a few times before my Mother picks up "Hello, this is"- "SHUT UP, I NEED AN EMERGENCY TRANSMAT BACK TO THE LAB, NOW!" I yell at her, as I let another wail of agonizing pain. "KAI, ARE YOU ALRIGHT!" mother shouts over the phone "JUST! DO! IT!" I can barely get out of my mouth before screaming in pain.

After a couple seconds of nothing, a blue flash of light blinds my vision.

When it clears, I appear on a sort of white cylinder like chamber. I immediately stumble out of it and fall to the ground, and feel like I'm about to blackout as someone calls my name.

This is when I start having a weird vision. Strange symbols that I couldn't understand appear before me, and once again the last thing I see before I black out was….

…..The Number 39.

Zexal

As Kaizen is transported back, his Mother as well as a bunch of scientists a running in the direction of the Transmat pod. When arriving she sees a sight that horrifies her, her son laying face-down on the floor in front of the pod. "KAIZEN!" Doctor Nakagawa shouts out in panic.

When they tried to get close to him something strange happened. Kaizen starts getting to his feet slowly like a zombie, as he fully stands up his eyes are over shadowed, but on his left cheek anyone can see that lines of fresh blood dripping out of his eye.

Doctor Nakagawa started walking cautiously towards him, "Kai, are you all right?" she asks the boy in a calm voice.

Kaizen lifts his head up fully, surprising everyone with what they saw. His normally pale blue eye was now changed to a blood red iris, and the white of his eye changed to black (a/n: think hollowfication in 'Bleach' then you'll understand) with red electricity coming from it.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kaizen lets out a primal roar of power, causing nearby electrical systems to spark and malfunction.

Red waves of power started spreading throughout the entire lab. _'This power, it's similar to that of Rika's'_ Doctor Nakagawa thought to herself while shielding herself from the pure power.

Zexal

Elsewhere in the building, a young pink haired girl is in her room laying in her bed. But suddenly she sat up so fast you think she just woke up from the dead. "Br-o-th-er" she says in a monotone voice with hints of concern in her voice.

After just a moment of sitting there, she starts screaming with a more powerful red power, coming out her eyes and mouth. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screams in power and pain.

Suddenly the door of the room opened, revealing the maid Yoko. "OH NO, RIKA!" Yoko shouts in panic, in case of Rika getting out of control.

But what she didn't know was that Rika was mostly in control of the power at the moment, and was helping her older brother.

Zexal

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-huh" Kaizen stops screaming, and looks around confused as to where he was. And he noticed it was the lab, the lab that was partially destroyed.

"KAIZEN!" he heard someone yell. So looking to his left he noticed his Mother walking towards him slowly. "Huh, w-w-what happened?" was the last thing he said before fainting. At the last second his mother caught him before he hit the ground.

"Kai, just what in the hell just happened" Doctor Nakagawa said to herself out loud.

Zexal

Rika stops screaming with a small smile on her face, and lays back down on her bed, once again asleep.

' _It's nearly time, for the messenger of the Astral World to arrive, and the rise of the Numbers'_ was her last thought before falling asleep.

Zexal

 **Chapter 1: Numbers!? Part 1** **: End**

 **Next chapter: Numbers!? Part 2**

A/N: A nearly 6000 word chapter this time, whew. Let me tell you the amount of drafts I made of this chapter to make it a good chapter in my opinion anyway. It was originally going to be the full Zexal episode but I thought it would be good getting some backstory out of the way, let me know what you guys think. On another note, I should let you guys know that I will be making separate stories in tandem with this one. If your interested checkout my profile for more details. Cya guys in part 2 of chapter 1.


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